


The Thousand-Pierced Bear

by bkhyunverse, bkylvhs



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Aggression Issues, Alternate Universe - Demons, Alternate Universe - Historical, Alternate Universe - Mythology, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Angst, Emotional Hurt, Frottage, Historical, Historical Inaccuracy, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Mention of blood, Mild Sexual Content, Miscommunication, Monsterfest 2020, Narcissism, Sexual Tension, Unresolved Emotional Tension, evil spirits
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-05
Updated: 2020-12-05
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:01:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27202861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bkhyunverse/pseuds/bkhyunverse, https://archiveofourown.org/users/bkylvhs/pseuds/bkylvhs
Summary: When the blood begins to fall, and the corrupted spirits come out, tugging on Baekhyun to take him with them, Chanyeol realizes that he just can’t let go of Baekhyun like this.
Relationships: Byun Baekhyun/Park Chanyeol
Comments: 6
Kudos: 38
Collections: EXO MONSTERFEST 2020





	The Thousand-Pierced Bear

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for Monsterfest.

No matter what season it is, from the valley to the peaks, the mountains nearby the Silla Kingdom are always covered in snow; as if they are frozen in time. Day and night, the cold wind blows in white relentlessly over the hills, howling between the rocky passages and whistling through the tees’ leafless branches.

It is getting late, dusk already looming over the land, as the horse’s hooves clack on the stones of the only path in the valley that isn’t covered in a deep layer of snow. Almost all day, the two men on the horse have been riding through the valleys and over the hills in hopes of encountering some wildlife – bow, and arrows readily in reach on Baekhyun’s back while Chanyeol leads the horse through the, to Baekhyun, unknown terrain. When the sun wasn’t that far from the horizon anymore, Chanyeol figured it is best to return to his cabin and continue the search another time. The hunt for deer, wolves, or even rabbits had been unsuccessful, but Baekhyun at least they managed to find some wood that felt dry enough to start a fire.

Their way is far, and the night approaches fast. It is getting colder by the minute, snowflakes are getting thicker, and the wind grows rougher.

A particular harsh blow of wind that pierces through all his layers of clothes sends a shiver through Baekhyun’s entire body. Subconsciously, Baekhyun tightens his arms around Chanyeol’s waist, on which he had been holding onto to stay secure on the horse’s back, and buries his face deeper in the white fur of the coated back before him. Chanyeol flinches a little when Baekhyun turns his face to the side, head still pressing against his back, wanting to look at the men that live along the valley’s path.

There aren’t many people that live in the mountains since most would see it as uninhabitable, almost everything of the mountains being frozen overall year through. When Baekhyun had first entered the frozen area of the mountains, following the only path he could walk without sinking knee-deep into the snow, he was surprised to see smoke rising. Upon getting closer, he saw that the smoke was emitted by a row of small and shabby-looking cabins, which had to mean that someone must be living there. Baekhyun had set out to the mountains over a myth, and he didn’t expect to see even just one man out there, so ending up seeing something like a small village was exciting.

It is not like he wanted to meet someone; he couldn’t have cared less about it because he just wanted it to be known that he set out for the hills and be seen until he vanishes into the white of the mountains. Visiting the mountains is highly warned against by almost everyone Baekhyun had met in the Silla Kingdom. To enter the forever frozen land is feared so vastly that many wouldn’t even dare to touch the snow.

The reason why Baekhyun set out into the mountains wasn’t even the reason he had traveled to the Silla Kingdom in the first place. He had it relatively easy before he traveled again; he had found a myth where he could gather many little details, enough to make it exciting and be able to use it to rip-off the people walking on the plaza.

One evening, Baekhyun had met a conman that tried to sell off his stolen goods as being from the land of _‘The Frozen Princess’_ which had piqued his interest. Baekhyun had always loved myths; as a kid, he thought becoming a myth of his own would be the greatest, to be known forever. As he grew older, he eventually learned that most parts of myths are not real. Thought, it is hard to tell truths and lies apart if one makes them sound believable – and that is what came easy to Baekhyun. Myths, hearing about them, and exploring them is what keeps Baekhyun excited. Using myth to make himself the center of attention is so simple to Baekhyun. What Baekhyun is best at is lying right to the faces of Strangers without even batting an eyelash. Telling tales to the naïve while pinching them off their money for nothing but lies is what keeps Baekhyun; going as if he has a strange and deviant love for lying. Whenever Baekhyun hears about a myth he never heard before, he wants to know everything that he can find out there. Taking every little information, no matter how ridiculous it is, and forming a story of his own out of it.

The story of _‘The Frozen Princess’_ brought Baekhyun into the Silla Kingdom, but the myth of _‘The Thousand-Pierced Bear’_ is what made him stay.

There was just so little he could find out about The Thousand-Pierced Bear that it did not only spark his interest to rip off the naïve but also to find out more about it. Although it was quite hard to find someone that would talk to him about it, it didn’t stop Baekhyun. The only thing he could tell for sure is that it has something to do with the mountains surrounding almost half of the Silla Kingdom. Some had been sure that it must be related to _The Frozen Princess_ even, mostly because both of the myths find home in the mountains, though.

What stuck the most inside Baekhyun’s mind is that it is said that no one ever returned from the mountains.

Even if Baekhyun can’t find out more about the story surrounding the Thousand-Pierced Bear, it wouldn’t matter. It wouldn’t matter because he knows that with so little information out there, he can just spill the most ridiculous nonsense, and many would still believe him. All he had to archive to win them over and making them believe any word he says. It might sound like a challenging task but it all he had to do for that was to have it be known that he vanished into the mountains and returned alive from them days later.

Finding men actually living in these rumored mountains made it even more exciting. Maybe, just maybe, there is more about the story, and perhaps these men know something the people from within the kingdom don’t.

Upon seeing the cabins, Baekhyun didn’t hesitate to walk up to the first one and knock on its door. Although all the noises coming from inside that indicated that someone must have been there, the door stayed closed. Only a very few opened the door to him just to be slammed shut in his face. Baekhyun had met some that were still outside, greeted them with a wide smile and a friendly _hello,_ but neither of these men would speak more than a few words to him, and all they said was nothing more than telling him to leave.

These men who once would only scowl on Baekhyun in an almost abhorrently manner are falling onto their knees, their legs buried in the snow and heads hanging low. Baekhyun isn’t sure if it’s an act out of submission or devotion and honor, but neither does he care. Baekhyun scoffs to himself as he looks at these men who once gave him not more than a glance of disgust but now look so pitiful, kneeling in the snow.

Of course, Baekhyun knows that they are not kneeling for him. These men are kneeling for Chanyeol; they do such whenever he comes into vision. He has been spending weeks with Chanyeol at this point, and no one dared to say anything about it; they were so far below him that they wouldn’t dare to speak up against him because Chanyeol chose him over them. What the reason is behind that, Baekhyun doesn’t really know, and Chanyeol never gave him a proper answer for that either. Sometimes Baekhyun still wonders why, wonders what kind of status Chanyeol holds over them to have this effect on them, but even without an answer, there is one thing he knows – he’s better than them. Baekhyun never really pressed further about these men because he doesn’t need a reason to feel superior over some pathetic men that not only kneel for Chanyeol but now also have to kneel for _him_ , too.

Baekhyun loves to see them kneel, so much that it is almost sad when the few men of the small village vanish within the white of the snow in the darkness of the fast-approaching night.

Night had already fallen over them before making it fully back to the cabin up the hill and behind the rocky passage. Baekhyun’s entire body shivers as he detaches himself from Chanyeol’s back, his body no longer nestled in the white fur of the other’s coat. Jumping off the horse, winds howl from around everywhere feels the cold creeping up his body even more. Reaching up, Baekhyun takes the lantern off Chanyeol’s hands so that he can also get off the horse in a swift motion. Taking off all the bags that hung around the horse, Baekhyun’s whole body trembles from the cold as he waits for Chanyeol to return from bringing the horse back into its stable.

The inside of the cabin isn’t much different as it hasn’t been heated the entire day; or a couple of days for that matter.

“Fuck,” Baekhyun mutters absentmindedly as he takes the wood pieces out from the bag and places them in a metal bucket that stands on a few stone bricks just below a cracked window, “Sometimes I still really don’t get why you don’t have a fireplace up here.”

Chanyeol just shrugs his shoulder and turns away from Baekhyun after placing the other bags of wood on the ground near him. “Never felt the need to,” he replies nonchalantly as he takes off his white fur coat, leaving on just a thinner cotton jacket. Placing his long coat on the end of the bed, he sits down on his shapeshift divan-like seating spot, “I guess I got used to the cold.”

“I won’t e-ever understand that,” Baekhyun scoffs jokingly, voice shaking a little while trying to warm himself on the small fire coming from the bucket.

Baekhyun flinches when something heavy lands on his shoulder, turning his heady quickly to see Chanyeol looking at him. The weight that had hit his shoulder and now lays on the ground near him is Chanyeol’s fur coat.

“That will probably warm you up faster than that tiny flame you got going for yourself,” Chanyeol laughs.

Baekhyun can tell that Chanyeol is teasing him, but he doesn’t mind; he just rolls his eyes at him as he gets up from the floor to wrap himself up in the fur coat. “Already better,” Baekhyun sighs in bliss, the warmth of Chanyeol that is still stuck to the coat warming up Baekhyun quickly, “Much better,” he chuckles as sits down onto the edge of Chanyeol’s bed next to the divan like seating where Chanyeol sits.

“Hey!” Chanyeol playfully kicks Baekhyun’s foot, “When did I say you can sit on my bed, huh?”

Baekhyun only laughs in response, not even giving an answer anymore because they both know that in the end, Baekhyun will end up sleeping in the bed anyway. How could he not, the nights are so cold, and Chanyeol’s body always feels so warm when Baekhyun is near. Baekhyun knows that even though he sneaks quietly into the bed to not wake Chanyeol, he knows, he had woken up before him and didn’t say anything about it.

That they fall into silence isn’t something uncommon between them. It’s hasn’t been awkward in weeks and even became quite comfortable as they just lean back without any words being spoken for a while.

A night, or even days, could pass without a word being spoken between the two without things feeling odd between them but sometimes thought, Baekhyun’s itching to talk. “You know, it’s been a while since so many of the village men were outside when we passed them,” Baekhyun begins to ramble mindlessly into the room while staring at the ceiling.  
“Once in a while, I wonder if I could make a name out of myself, you know, like being an actual living myth just to have peasants drop down to me when they see me,” Baekhyun laughs in scoffs at his own words, even though he meant truly meant them. “God, I just love seeing them drop everything to kneel as soon as we get close to them,” he continues while a smile creeps on his lips absentmindedly.

“It can be nice,” Chanyeol hums, seemingly without giving too much attention to Baekhyun’s words. He still sits up, turning his attention to the Baekhyun that adverted his eyes down to him, “But I guess you don't have that often as a traveler, don't you?” The corner of Chanyeol’s lips twitching upwards as he adds, kind of coyly but also in a way feeling more seducing than it might should have been.

“I can’t say I don’t have it often,” Baekhyun answers cockily, grinning with confidence as he places his hands beside his knees. Leaning his body in, to be just a little more towards Chanyeol, he continues, “But let's just say that they might not have intended on doing so on their own from the begin.”

Chanyeol raises an eyebrow at that, “Oh?”

Baekhyun hums with his lips in a smug smile as he sways his head a little while reaching for the small leather pocket that is strapped to his thigh. “Peoples' respect for you can change just so quickly if you put a blade to their throat,” Baekhyun airs overconfidently with his self-satisfied grin as he flips open his pocket-knife.

Chuckling, Chanyeol leans forward with his elbows on his knee and his chin resting on his fist, looking at Baekhyun with a smirk. “Here I was, thinking that you’re just a little _taleteller_ ,” Chanyeol fakes a sigh as chaff, shaking his head in staged disbelief, “But you’re actually a little, _narcissistic criminal_ , huh?”

That Chanyeol called him narcissistic doesn’t even affect Baekhyun because, after all, it is not wrong. “You could say so.”

So confident, so overly cocky and quick with the knife, “I wish I could have seen what it looks like when you put your blade to use.”

Being taunted like that by Chanyeol, so oddly tempting and alluring with his deep voice, Baekhyun just can’t help but to crack into a grin himself, feeling himself getting more and more excited. Baekhyun doesn’t think much about it, his body moving on his own, “It was something like that,” he mutters as he pushes himself up from the bed’s edge. Without a care or worry, Baekhyun sits himself down onto Chanyeol’s lap, holding his knife’s blade close to Chanyeol’s throat, grazing the skin oh-so lightly with the sharp silver-edge.

Chanyeol doesn’t flinch even the slightest at the cold touch of silver on his neck, his hands instinctively landing on the sides of Baekhyun’s thighs, and Baekhyun just lets him. The way Chanyeol looks up to him while his hand holds a blade to his throat sparks temptation within Baekhyun. Chanyeol, with his strangely white hair, is already a sight alluring in itself, but there’s just something about this that gets Baekhyun more than anything. Usually, the men he had met already weakened by just the mere sight of the blade being pulled, but Chanyeol doesn’t yield despite his skin being grazed by the sharp edge. Baekhyun loves it when men succumb to him, but there’s just something so enticing about a man which expression doesn’t even waver in the slightest while his throat is taunted to be torn apart.

Chanyeol doesn’t reply anything to Baekhyun; he just stares up at him, his gaze heavy and intense.

Baekhyun gulps as he stares back down, his body feeling like it’s heating up by the passing seconds. Oh, how much Baekhyun wishes to lean down and lock his lips with Chanyeol’s but he doesn’t, not yet.

It isn’t the first time that they ended up in such a compromising position. It happened quite often, actually, almost every other day even. The thing is, they usually don’t end up being this close without Chanyeol instantly pulling away. It’s not like it’s always initiating it and breaching a line of comfort he should have seen. More often than not, it’s usually Chanyeol who begins to stir, making the tension between them rise. One could think that perhaps Chanyeol just lives for it to edge, that he gets enjoyment out of causing possible frustration out of the other. Though, Baekhyun is conflicted over that – although possible, Chanyeol’s way of reaction when pushing him away speaks differently, as if he’s conflicted within himself over what he wants or not. This time though, Chanyeol’s hands don’t seem to move away from Baekhyun’s thighs, and his gaze doesn’t waver either, making it harder for Baekhyun to read him than he already is. When he’s feeling Chanyeol’s hand wander up to his hips, though, Baekhyun gives in to the temptation, leaning down slowly, slow enough to give Chanyeol time to pull away.

He doesn’t though.

One of Chanyeol’s hands leave Baekhyun’s hips and grabs him by the back of his neck, pulling him down and crashing their lips together roughly. Caught by surprise but still quick to respond, Baekhyun drops the knife from his hand without a care where it lands and buries his fingers in Chanyeol’s white hair. Chanyeol’s arm wraps around Baekhyun’s waist, pulling him in closer, his hands settling low on Baekhyun’s hips, almost on his behind even.

Baekhyun’s body feels like its heat is rising by nothing but Chanyeol diverting between his tongue meddling with his own and Chanyeol nipping on his bottom lip. While Chanyeol’s hands squeeze Baekhyun’s behind, he groans into the kiss, his mind faraway as his hips just start to subtly roll on their own on Chanyeol’s lap.

Chanyeol moves his hands higher on Baekhyun’s back to have a better hold onto him as he turns them over to the side, leaning his body weight against Baekhyun. Feeling himself being moved around, Baekhyun doesn’t care and lets Chanyeol do until Baekhyun can feel the bed’s edge against his back, having Chanyeol hover over him, between his legs, without breaking the kiss.

A little moan escapes Baekhyun’s lips while Chanyeol tries to position himself properly between his legs, and Chanyeol’s hand tightening on Baekhyun’s waist at the sweet little noise.

With the new-found position, the fur coat Baekhyun’s wearing falls open and allows Chanyeol to push open the underlying wrap-coat and work on the ribbons of the thin robe underneath. Opening two ribbons, Chanyeol only faintly loosens a third one before giving up on it. To him, it feels like it is enough, and he pushes the fabric aside to reveal Baekhyun’s soft chest. Chanyeol kisses down along Baekhyun’s throat, skipping over the fabric to leave light marks on Baekhyun’s skin of milk and honey.

Baekhyun gasps, his hands tighten in Chanyeol’s hair as he can feel a tongue ghosting over his rosy nipple. It’s almost embarrassing how sensitive he is to such a soft touch, a gentle lick. Baekhyun bites into the back of his hand to mute the moans spilling from his lips when Chanyeol cups his chest and begins to suck on his perky bud. Shamelessly, Baekhyun moves his hips, enjoying the feeling of his crotch rubbing against Chanyeol’s stomach for at least some friction.

But Baekhyun isn’t easy to be sated.

Felling Chanyeol’s fingers moving between the layer of fabric, his fingertips moving over the heated skin of his hips and lower, Baekhyun feels bold enough to let his own hands roam around. While one hand stays entangled in Chanyeol’s white hair, Baekhyun’s other wanders down his side and stays low on his waist.

Chanyeol breaks away from Baekhyun’s with spit-glistening nipple, meeting Baekhyun’s gazes just for a moment before Chanyeol leans down into yet another kiss. His wet lips capturing Baekhyun’s once again, and Baekhyun welcomes it. The plump, almost swollen-like lips don’t stay long on his though because apparently, just kissing along his neck once wasn’t enough for Chanyeol. Leaving a trail of kisses on Baekhyun’s jaw, Chanyeol slowly moves down to the side of Baekhyun’s neck. As Chanyeol is nibbling on the sensitive skin, Baekhyun gasps into his hold at a particular rough bite, feeling himself twitch below at the sensation.

Trying to feel more of Chanyeol, Baekhyun’s hand tries to get under the thin jacket he’s still wearing over his linen robe. His tries aren’t of much success thought since Chanyeol keeps pulling his hand away, seemingly absentmindedly. Eventually, when it feels like Chanyeol lost himself in the feeling of their bodies gently rutting against each other, Baekhyun manages to get through the layers of fabric and to feel skin under his fingertips.

Though what he feels is rough to the touch.

Baekhyun’s hand moves over the lower part of Chanyeol’s back, but all he feels are bumps and edges, unable to figure out what he’s actually feeling. Baekhyun’s mind stops completely when his hand feels… _wet?_ As if something is running down his skin even. With his mind in such confusion over what he’s feeling, Baekhyun’s body stopped responding and moving with Chanyeol’s.

Eyes widening and stopping whole, Chanyeol comes to realize where Baekhyun is touching him.

In a matter of seconds, Chanyeol goes from hovering over Baekhyun and letting the lust drive him, to pushing himself away once again. This time though, Chanyeol's eyes are blown wide, his breathing oddly heavy as he just stares at Baekhyun, who’s looking almost perplex at his hand that is tinted in a dark liquid.

It doesn’t take Baekhyun long to figure out that his whole hand is covered in blood, blood coming from Chanyeol’s back. “Fuck…” Baekhyun mutters under his breath, worry creeping up inside of him. “Fuck,” he repeats, “Are you okay?” Baekhyun asks, adverting his eyes to look up to Chanyeol, but he didn’t expect the other to look this disheveled about it.

“It’s nothing,” Chanyeol replies curtly.

Baekhyun furrows his eyebrows; somehow, Chanyeol’s answer makes him feel unsettled. “Nothing?” Baekhyun repeats Chanyeol’s words in a manner that sounds close to being upset. “This is not nothing!” Baekhyun adds, almost yelling even, as he holds his bloody palm to Chanyeol.

That Chanyeol would be so defensive isn’t something Baekhyun had expected; neither does he understand it. Even though Chanyeol tells Baekhyun to forget about it but he just can’t, and he wants to see Chanyeol’s back, almost begging Chanyeol even. No matter how much Baekhyun pesters Chanyeol to show him his back, Chanyeol won’t give in, and neither does Baekhyun give up on it. Baekhyun usually isn’t the time to pressure someone like this, especially if it’s quite clear that they don’t want to. He can’t bring himself to stop; he doesn’t want to, not without reason, though. The thing is, Baekhyun doesn’t stop because he is worried, immensely even. After all, having so much blood on his hand from a mere touch is alarming.

Though, once Baekhyun managed to yank Chanyeol’s coat and underlying robe off at least one shoulder to reveal the entire to his back, he understands why.

At the sight of Chanyeol’s back, Baekhyun unintentionally gags, “Fuck, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean –”

“Are you satisfied now?!” Chanyeol hisses at Baekhyun in a tone as if he’s spitting venom while pulling up his robe hastily.

Of course, Baekhyun knew that it won’t be something small considering the amount of blood on his hand and what he had felt before, but he didn’t expect it to be like this extreme. Chanyeol’s back looks like a battlefield, not a single spot that isn’t damaged, covered in a thousand wounds.

“How…?” Baekhyun mutters mindlessly. He doesn’t understand how Chanyeol’s back could look like this because he had spent every day with him for weeks, and the wounds don’t look older than a day or two.

Chanyeol just shrugs dismissively, “It doesn't matter. It's just the cold not being kind to wounds.”

“Fucking hell,” Baekhyun mumbles to himself. He can’t help but get annoyed by how dismissive Chanyeol acts when the skin looks like it was torn off his back almost. “Come, let me –” He begins as he moves closer to Chanyeol, wanting to take care of the injures, but all that happens is Chanyeol pushing away while cursing at him.

Baekhyun looks at Chanyeol in surprise at the sudden anger. Yes, he might have gone a little too far when he pressured Chanyeol and literally ripping his clothes away to expose his back, but now that it is out, he just wants to help him. “What the fuck is your problem now?” Baekhyun cries out, holding onto his waist that had hit the wooden beam between the bed’s edge and the divan-like seating.

“You,” Chanyeol calls out, his hands burying themselves in his hair in frustration, “You are my problem. If you just would have never come out here…”

“Chanyeol?” Baekhyun tries, confused but voice soft, “What is this about?”

Chanyeol scoffs, his head swaying, and an odd grin forms itself on his face, “As if you don’t know by now.” He doesn’t give Baekhyun time to respond or even just to understand as he already goes to continue tauntingly, “I am what you came here for, aren’t I?”

“What?” Baekhyun crocks his head, eyebrows furrowed in confusion, “I came here because of –” he starts but gets cut off by Chanyeol.

_“The Thousand-Pierced Bear.”_

And Baekhyun stops talking, his mouth staying agape from all kinds of thoughts rushing together in his mind. “Y-you?” Is all that he can mutter out from all the mess going on inside his head.

_“I am what you were looking for.”_

From all the stories that he had heard, all the stories about _The Thousand-Pierced Bear_ hiding or even being locked away in the mountains, Baekhyun never thought that this myth would be just… a human – especially when considered that the myth ranges to being around for at least 200 years at this point in time.

Of course, Baekhyun wants to understand more about it, trying to ask Chanyeol to just talk to him and explain because he doesn’t understand much.

“Why would I tell you anything?” Chanyeol scoffs, “So you can use it to basically sell me off?”

Baekhyun purses his lips in response because what Chanyeol accused him of is quite fair for him to do. After all, weeks ago, he did tell him that he’s a taleteller. When he was asked what led him into the mountains, he didn’t hide that it was because he has heard of that specific myth. At first, he did not tell why but as his stay changed from days to a week and continued to lengthen, he eventually told Chanyeol about his scheme – that he’s a taleteller, just more brazenly. It wasn’t a secret anymore that Baekhyun rips people off by telling them about myths, neither that most of his little tales consist of lies he had added himself. Considering that there isn’t much to know about The Thousand-Pierced Bear out there, having someone else tell him more would make it much easier on Baekhyun. That Chanyeol might things that way, he doesn’t really understand because how was Baekhyun supposed to know that this “myth” is a real person? Then again, Baekhyun said that he wanted to only stay for a few days, which grew into weeks, so he can see why it could look that Baekhyun only stayed to get something out of Chanyeol.

He didn’t though.

Baekhyun had no idea that anything he had heard about this “myth” is real, that all this seems to be about is a pained man banished into the mountains – so he thinks.

“Why… Who did that to you?” Baekhyun asks, his chest stinking from just imagining how much pain Chanyeol must have gone through for things to turn out this way.

Baekhyun shrikes when he suddenly gets yanked up from his seating, a hand grasping his collar and Chanyeol’s face close to his, “Do you still not understand?” Chanyeol questions, albeit rhetorically, before pushing Baekhyun into the direction of the door, “Run, run before it’s too late.”

“Understand what?!” Baekhyun yells back at Chanyeol.

Chanyeol clicks his tongue before he dashes over to Baekhyun, his fits thudding into the wall beside Baekhyun’s head, caging his body with his own.

_“What you’ve been looking for was nothing but a corruption refusing to get locked up in hell.”_

Somewhere, he had heard something about _corruption_ concerning the mountains before, but his mind is so blurry that he can’t grasp where. There was something about _The Frozen Princess_ ; that the things that were done to her left her corrupted – and that’s where it clicks.

What Baekhyun had heard before was that the mountains were haunted by _corruptions_ , which were also names as _Evil Spirits_ by many. Baekhyun feels like there’s still something missing. Assuming that the tales he had heard were right, spirits shouldn’t be more than a dash of shrieking fog; and not embodied in the form of a human. Suddenly, Baekhyun’s eyes widen as he finally understands what Chanyeol is telling him so vaguely because,

_Embodied in the form of a human._

_Refusing to get locked up in hell._

“You’re a –”

_“A demon, yes.”_

“Leave, now, and never come back here,” Chanyeol adds, his voice deep, almost as if he’s growling at Baekhyun.

Baekhyun gulps, but he won’t just back down. It’s not that he doesn’t want to know about it because he would be lying if he said otherwise. He wants to, but he doesn’t want to know more to sell Chanyeol off; he just wants to understand more about what he actually is and what had happened to him. There is just this odd feeling of deviant interest mixed with something else, of which Baekhyun thought it was mutual, that makes him refuse to simply give in and back away.

“What if I won’t?” Baekhyun taunts, his gaze not shying away from Chanyeol’s piercing and intimidating gaze.

 _“What?”_ Chanyeol scoffs, _“You want to come back here? Of course, best you bring all the people with you that you want to pinch off their money from, and I will make sure that neither of them returns from here.”_

Baekhyun tries to call out Chanyeol’s name, tries to interrupt his almost rambling-like speech because this is far from what Baekhyun had meant, but Chanyeol ignores him.

_“Maybe they’ll think you killed them, that their blood is on your hands! Maybe you’ll get the taste of what it feels like to be lynched for crimes you didn’t commit!”_

“Chanyeol!” Baekhyun screams, right into his face while tears run down his own. He wants to make him stop ramble things Baekhyun doesn’t understand, wants him to finally listen to him, “What if I want to stay here?”

_“You want to stay here?”_

“Yes,” Baekhyun nods, his hand reaching to hold Chanyeol’s face, “I want to stay with you.”

Baekhyun flinches when a hand wraps around his throat, gasping as he feels himself being slowly lifted off the floor beneath, his feet barely reaching it anymore. Baekhyun’s hands grasp onto the one around his neck, “C-Chanyeol,” Baekhyun cries as he watches the white in Chanyeol’s eyes being consumed by nothing but black.

Baekhyun feels like being choke as he’s being lifted off the ground full by an abnormal strength within Chanyeol, and as he’s being thrown out into the darkness of the night, Chanyeol screams:

_“Then fucking die!”_

Baekhyun’s head feels like it is spinning, the snow beneath him having cushioned his fall from being thrown. The part on his throat where Chanyeol’s hand was, barely a few seconds ago, feels like it’s burning up from the inside. Trying to sit up and pushing himself onto his knees, Baekhyun begins to cough as he touches his neck, feeling welts created by nothing but Chanyeol’s fingers pressing around it. Baekhyun doesn’t understand what suddenly came over Chanyeol, why he suddenly attacked him like he’s an enemy in disguise. Still, it’s not yet over for Baekhyun. He won’t just let it pass like this because he _knows_ that he wasn’t the only one feeling this attraction even though neither voiced it out, ever. There is just _something_ between them, and Baekhyun isn’t ready to give that up without a fight.

As Baekhyun tries to get up, he feels like he’s being pulled down again, over and over, harder with every try. Baekhyun’s legs feel as if they are held down to the ground by a force invisible to his eyes. Shivers are running through his body, but he can’t manage to even reach to grab onto Chanyeol’s coat that’s still hanging off his shoulder – unable to shield himself from the falling snow and raindrops.

When a raindrop hits the corner of his eye, and a part of his vision gets blurred in red, just the Baekhyun realized that it is not water that is falling from the night skies.

In Panic, because of the thought that crept up in his mind, Baekhyun looks around, only to discovered uncountable spots of red in the snow. Their contrast enhanced by the moonlight, making the snow look as if it’s glowing under its light.

Baekhyun had heard something about pools of blood in the snow, seemingly without reason, claimed by some as caused by hunting, but many believed it to be part of a myth. What myth, if it was The Thousand-Pierced Bear or the Frozen Princess, Baekhyun can’t remember, his mind too blurry to grasp a thought and to even remember what this was related to it.

 _“No…”_ Baekhyun shakes his head; eyes shut tightly _._ This cannot be real – there can’t be blood falling from the skies.

With a harsh tug on his sleeve, Baekhyun’s eyes spring open in an instant, hoping to see Chanyeol near, but all he sees is dark fog surrounding him.

_I’m losing my mind, don’t I?_

Baekhyun’s head feels like it’s spinning, the air moving around him, and he feels like he’s being tugged on relentlessly. He closes his eyes, letting his body be swayed from side to side by the fog – _he cannot fight back._

Throughout the hill, through every crack and nook, the fog’s shrieking can be heard – and so does Chanyeol behind his cabin’s door.

_It will soon be over._

Behind the door, Chanyeol had dropped to the floor, his hands tugging on his hair as he rocks back and forth.

_Soon he’ll be gone and nothing but a distant memory._

It was Chanyeol, he was the one allowing the spirits to come out and feast on Baekhyun, but he can’t take it longer. He can’t listen to the spirits’ shrieks anymore, listening to them as they take away what he felt so close to his heart even if he tried to deny it to himself. Chanyeol jumps up from the floor and knocks the door open to see Baekhyun lying motionless in the snow. Small polls of blood have already formed around Baekhyun’s body, and Chanyeol can see the shallow forms of the spirits tugging on everything that isn’t covered by the coat he had given to him.

_“No…”_

Dashing over to where Baekhyun had landed under Chanyeol’s force, he quickly wraps him up in his coat while picking him up. Carrying him away in his safety, the spirits follow him in growls, wanting back what they already had claimed for themselves.

Back in his cabin, Chanyeol slums down to the ground with Baekhyun in his arms. Quickly, he pulls his coat close to cover Baekhyun’s fainted form and cradles him close to his chest.

 _“Wake up…”_ Chanyeol repeatedly mutters under his breath, his voice coming out barely, _“Open your eyes, Baekhyun…”_ Tears burn their way down Chanyeol’s cheeks, drops falling onto Baekhyun’s head while Chanyeol rocks back and forth, begging Baekhyun to wake up.

Never had Chanyeol let anyone he met stay with him so long, had allowed him to get this close to him. Chanyeol grew attached to Baekhyun, didn’t want him to leave, but he knew that he shouldn’t let a human stay with him like this. Chanyeol knew that he couldn’t keep his secret hidden forever, not when it was so evident – the sins he hadn’t commit whipped and pierced into the skin of his back.

When Baekhyun discovered them on his own doing, Chanyeol’s mind broke loose, his own inner conflict letting the evil run free.

The spirits won’t touch anything under Chanyeol’s protection, and for weeks it had been what kept them away from Baekhyun, but Chanyeol broke. Agony taking over and letting it spirits come, breaking the guard he had set over Baekhyun as he didn’t want to accept the feeling he had grown.

Feelings that weren’t just within Chanyeol but also within Baekhyun, and he knew that; he could feel in Baekhyun. It took so long for Chanyeol to stop denying himself the feelings that were growing between them. It pains him that he needed to hear the spirits to shriek as they tug away on Baekhyun’s life to break through the walls he had set himself long ago.

Although Chanyeol repatriated the spirits before they took Baekhyun with them entirely, their hunger seems to have worked against Chanyeol as Baekhyun’s eyes won’t open up to his beggings. Chanyeol cries and cries, not letting go of Baekhyun’s body, motionless in his arms.

Chanyeol regrets that he waited so long that almost the only thing he could hear was the piercing shrieks. His hands cramping, tensing up as pulls on his hair while he could hear Baekhyun calling his name through the spirits’ shrieking, and yet, he still didn’t get up – waiting until Baekhyun’s voice had faded entirely away, succumbing under the spirits.

Chanyeol had wished for Baekhyun to become nothing but a distant memory when deep down, he already knew that this isn’t what he wanted. Baekhyun was caged by his body, Chanyeol was spitting venom with his words, and yet, Baekhyun didn’t back down.

Baekhyun said he wanted to stay by his side, even though Chanyeol had already revealed himself to be the manifestation of the corrupted spirits, a demon.

_Perhaps, he never deserved Baekhyun to stay._

**Author's Note:**

> I ended up writing only 1/3 of the actual plot; so, I might continue with a sequel, or not idk


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